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Executive Summary:
8 types of people who 'like' your brand
1. The contest participant
2. The one-time prospect
3. The accidental fan
4. The forgotten fan
5. The inner circle
6. The badge wearer
7. The complainer
8. The good friend
The brand impact that different types of fans can have.
1. The contest participant
a common way to quickly gain "likes" on your Facebook page
Many people will gladly "like" you for great offers whether they care about your products or not.
run a lot of sweepstakes, you might have a large list of acquaintances—but not many close friends.
focus on offers that will appeal only to the fans you'd like to have. For example, if you're targeting IT professionals, don't give away an iPad; instead, provide an offer for a free online training course with a relevant certification.
2. The one-time prospect
A good example of this might be people who "like" a resort page for an upcoming vacation but aren't likely to come back.
not an active audience,
an ideal set of people
they might be inspired to revisit your resort years later.
start getting negative comments, they might be less inspired to return.
3. The accidental fan
Among any fan base is a group of people who "liked" your page by accident.
there aren't that many of them
just important to recognize that this group exists
and not worry about engagement from your entire fan base.
4. The forgotten fan
as in our personal lives, we have old friends who've dropped off our radar.
This group includes the people who can't figure out how to "unlike" you and don't really care that much whether they see you in their feed or not.
They are much like the people on your email list who don't make the effort to unsubscribe when they are no longer interested.
Occasionally, these folks will re-engage with you throughout your relationship and could turn into closer friends down the road.
5. The inner circle
This group is composed of your employees, investors, and other close relationships.
Much in the way your siblings are part of your personal Facebook network, the inner circle is highly involved and interested in what your brand is doing,
but this group is not a great set of prospects from which to generate new business.
6. The badge wearer
Badge wearers are people who've "liked" you not because they actually like or are interested in your brand,
but rather they like the association of being near you.
they really don't offer a lot of additional value to your brand (and in some ways might have a negative impact).
Badge wearers are aspirational followers. They desire to be associated and hope to someday truly be in the club.
Ferrari has more than 10 million "likes" on Facebook. it has a lot of badge wearers in its fan base.
7. The complainer
it's important to recognize that complainers can also represent opportunities
-not only to improve your relationship with them, but also with others who are following the thread.
One benefit of having a social presence is that complainers will voice their complaints directly to you, as opposed to having harmful conversations with others behind your back.
8. The good friend
This final group is your true fan base.
Just as in your personal life,
these are the followers who are genuinely interested in what you're doing, enjoy being with you, and, when asked, will say nice things about you.
They are less influenced by negative comments about you
and, when pushed into a corner, will gladly stand up and defend you.
They don't need to see you every day, but they like to hear from you once in a while-particularly when you have interesting news and successes.
So, what is a brand to do with all this information?
The most important point is that when talking about "likes," friends, fans, followers, etc., you shouldn't lump them into one group.
Brands need to understand who their audience members are and treat them accordingly.
Ferrari isn't going to sell 10 million cars anytime soon. On the other hand, Coca-Cola does have a good chance of selling products to its 57 million-plus Facebook fans
take the time to understand your company's fan list.
You might not see every category in this article represented among your fans, but doing an analysis is a good exercise that will give you a better understanding of who your fans are so you can engage them appropriately.
